Objective: To analyze the effect of castration on risk factors for arteriosclerosis of patients with prostate cancer.
Methods: Thirty patients with primary regional prostate adenocarcinoma limited to the prostate theca were selected in this study. Serum levels of testosterone (T), free testosterone (FT), dehydroepiandrosterone (DHEA), sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), prostatic specific antigen (PSA), triglyceride (TG), total cholesterol (TC), high density lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C), low density lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C), apoprotein alpha(1) (APOalpha(1)) and apoprotein beta (APObeta), insulin, plasma fibrinopeptide A (FPA), plasminogen activator inhibitor-1 (PAI-1) and fibrinogen were determined just prior to, 1 week and 1, 4 and 8 months after castration.
Results: T, FT and PSA decreased significantly 1 week after castration (21.12 +/- 15.11 ng/ml vs 383.9 +/- 62.6 ng/ml, P < 0.001; 4.08 +/- 3.29 pmol/L vs 34.11 +/- 11.59 pmol/L, P < 0.001; 14.34 +/- 7.77 ng/ml vs 23.51 +/- 6.57 ng/ml, P = 0.001, respectively) and continued to decrease until reaching their lowest levels 8 months after castration. DHEA and SHBG did not undergo any changes. TG, fasting insulin and glucose, 2-hour insulin and glucose levels were significantly elevated 1 month after castration (1.84 +/- 0.61 mmol/L vs 1.30 +/- 0.40 mmol/L, P < 0.05; 18.16 +/- 5.57 mU/L vs 9.47 +/- 3.81 mU/L, P < 0.05; 4.77 +/- 0.66 mmol/L vs 3.92 +/- 0.34 mmol/L, P < 0.05; 65.52 +/- 14.78 mU/L vs 36.94 +/- 17.12 mU/L, P < 0.01; 6.98 +/- 0.79 mmol/L vs 6.01 +/- 0.23 mmol/L, P = 0.001, respectively). TC, LDL-C, FPA and PAI-1 levels were elevated 4 months after castration (6.56 +/- 0.99 mmol/L vs 5.29 +/- 0.75 mmol/L, P < 0.01; 4.09 +/- 0.86 mmol/L vs 3.04 +/- 0.15 mmol/L, P < 0.01; 3.39 +/- 1.67 nmol/L vs 1.48 +/- 0.50 nmol/L, P < 0.01; 27.02 +/- 5.98 ng/ml vs 21.78 +/- 3.16 ng/ml, P < 0.05, respectively), continuing to increase after that point. Insulin sensitive index (ISI) decreased significantly 1 month after surgery (-4.42 +/- 0.36 vs -3.50 +/- 0.39, P < 0.001), and continued to decrease from that point forward. HDL-C, APOalpha(1), APObeta and fibrinogen remained at pre-operative levels. There was a negative linear correlation between FT and TG, TC, LDL-C, PAI-1, FPA, fasting insulin and glucose, 2-hour insulin and glucose (r = -0.311, -0.384, -0.385, -0.339, -0.353, -0.381, -0.303, -0.460 and -0.395, respectively; P < 0.05). A similar phenomenon occurred with T (r = -0.308, -0.309, -0.356, -0.320, -0.430, -0.453, -0.435, -0.483 and -0.512, respectively; P < 0.05). T and FT were positively associated with ISI (r = 0.555 and 0.501; P < 0.001).
Conclusions: At 8 months follow-up of the study subjects, we found that lower androgen levels have adverse effects on lipid metabolism, coagulative function and insulin sensitivity, related to arteriosclerosis in men.